Fish kill prompts pollution probe

A SEWAGE treatment plant in Co Meath is in the spotlight after 4,000 wild brown trout were killed along a three-mile stretch of the River Innynear Oldcastle.

The alarm was raised by an angler last evening and a team of fishery officers worked through the night to remove dead fish and track the pollution source.

Local anglers identified a discharge of sludge from the sewage treatment plant in the Oldcastle area as a possible culprit but the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board (SRFB) refused to confirm this.

“We are following a definite line of inquiry and samples from the river are being analysed at the moment,” SRFB deputy chief Niall Collins said.

Local SRFB inspector Matt Nolan said the Inny would now have to be rehabilitated and restocked after the kill, which he described as one of the biggest in the area.

“It will take weeks and months of work to get this river back into shape,” he explained.

“The food chain that the trout survive on is very delicate.

“It’s one of the biggest in the region for sure.”

A team of SRFB officers, including Meath County Council officials, were still removing dead fish this afternoon.

The Environmental Protection Agency has also been notified.

The local angler raised the alarm after he noticed fish in distress on the water.

The River Inny is rich in trout and pike and popular with tourists and local coarse anglers.

It flows for more than 50km through counties Longford, Westmeath and Meath before entering Lough Sheelin in Co Cavan.